Bronston v. United States
United States Supreme Court
409 U.S. 352, 93 S.Ct. 595, 34 L.Ed.2d 568 (1973)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Bronston (defendant) testified in the following way under oath at a bankruptcy hearing for his company:
Q: Do you have any bank accounts in Swiss banks, Mr. Bronston?
A: No, sir.
Q: Have you ever?
A: The company had an account there for about six months, in Zurich.
Bronston actually did have a personal bank account at a bank in Geneva for almost five years. In essence, Bronston’s response was literally true, but because he replied with information about the company and not himself, the response was unresponsive to the question and arguably misleading. Bronston was charged and convicted of perjury. He appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Burger, C.J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 810,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.